South Sudan’s mining sector is being held back by illegal practices that exploit miners who have been failed by a “kleptocratic political regime,” according to Swissaid.
In a report, the Bern-headquartered NGO said the country’s authorities have “failed to govern the sector effectively.” Nearly all of the gold produced annually in South Sudan comes from artisans who are vulnerable to the whims of armed groups and export is mostly in the form of smuggling. Foreign traffickers benefit from the complicity of corrupt state officials, with Kenya, Uganda, and the United Arab Emirates emerging as the top destinations for South Sudanese gold, Swissaid’s report said.
Swissaid blamed the absence of industrial mining on South Sudan’s history of civil war and conflict since 2013, and the lack of geological mapping needed to properly organize mineral exploration. South Sudan’s mining ministry rejected Swissaid’s view that most gold exports were smuggled out of the country.